Former congressman Scott Murphy is hosting a fund-raiser for Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill in Manhattan on Monday, her first fund-raising trip to New York since her opponent's comments about "legitimate rape" put the race in the national spotlight.

In an email invitation, Murphy said those comments, by Rep. Todd Akin, "are equal parts revolting and telling, betraying how extremist sentiment has seeped dangerous into our body politic."

But, as Murphy points out in the email, McCaskill's victory still isn't assured in Missouri, a state that has become increasingly conservative in recent years, and voted for John McCain over Barack Obama in 2008. (Murphy notes that, like McCaskill, he grew up in Columbia, Missouri and they attended the same high school.)

"The biggest threat to her race is complacency," Murphy writes. "This is still an incredibly tough race for Claire. The latest poll, shows the race is 45-44. Is that fair? Of course not, but its our job to make sure that voters know the truth and the stakes."

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In a follow-up invitation, Murphy says the race can make "a big statement about taking extremism and anti-scientific beliefs out of our political system."

The event also features a performance by Howard McGillin, who the invitation bills as "the world's longest running Phantom in 'Phantom of the Opera.'"

McCaskill has some fund-raising ties in the city; she was part of the class of 2006 that Chuck Schumer helped stake to big financial advantages when he chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and the invitation includes some pillars of the city's fund-raising scene, including Sarah and Victor Kovner, and Anne Hess and Craig Kaplan.